40 Seconds To New Year
by BFCAS
Summary: There's only one minute to go until the ball drops and Chloe is trying desperately to find the right person in the crowd to kiss at midnight.


Hello and welcome to a new idea that I started between writing my other multi-chaps. (I am writing them, promise...)

I love writing these stupid little ideas into these things and I love the feedback even more, so please do leave some, critical or complimentary!

Let's go then- enjoy whatever my sleep deprived mind typed out!

...

"ONLY A MINUTE TO GO PITCHES." Fat Amy hollered as she stood on the coffee table of the Bella living room, eliciting a roar of excitement from the crowded room. The huge countdown clock on the TV ticked down into the seconds and the music blared loudly from the speakers as the crowd of drunken teens grabbed whoever they could to kiss at midnight.

Chloe drained the last of her vodka cranberry and threw the cup onto the overflowing kitchen table at the announcement from Amy, spinning around and trying to locate a particular someone from the crowds.

The countdown had reached 40 seconds and Chloe had done a quick search of the downstairs, squeezing through pairs of people in her haste. She was so busy looking around the room scanning to find the face she was after that she didn't notice as she walked head on into the back of another figure with a small grunt as the air got knocked from her.

"Woah, watch where you're going." The figure grumbled, turning around to look at Chloe whose apology was already forming on her lips. "Chlo?" Came the question that made Chloe refocus her drunken mind onto the figure as opposed to the crowd of people. She blinked hard and watched as the smiling face of Tom floated and clicked into place.

"Hey!" He grinned, hands out in greeting to his ex-girlfriend. Chloe forced a smile and instinctively grabbed onto one of his hands, giving it a friendly squeeze as she surreptitiously checked over his shoulder for her desired target.

"I knew I'd find you eventually in here." He shouted over the music, leaning in close and allowing Chloe to smell the mix of his familiar scent and strong whisky coming from him, making her reflexively withdraw slightly.

His hands moved to her waist and that made Chloe's attention snap back to the noise of people counting down from twenty around her house. Twenty seconds until the New Year and she was in the wrong set of arms. When she looked back to Tom, he was smiling down at her in the way he always had when they were dating- but instead of the warm familiarity in her stomach, Chloe felt a jolt of panic as she realised she didn't want to start New Year kissing the wrong lips.

"What do you say Chlo? For old times sake?" He winked as he leant down nearer to her lips as the countdown continued. Chloe stammered an excuse but he didn't hear it over the music and hollering crowds. She felt her heart sink as the countdown reached fifteen and she realised there was no way she would find her original New Year kiss in time.

"Chloe!" A voice yelled across the kitchen, making Chloe snap her head to the right; she recognised that voice anywhere. Chloe turned to Tom and put a hand on his chest, making him pull back and open his eyes.

"Sorry." Chloe said sheepishly before bolting across the kitchen and away from the thoroughly confused Tom whose arms were still held outward around the ghost of the shape of Chloe Beale.

Chloe ran across the kitchen and all but collided with Beca Mitchell, both of them reaching out in reflex to steady the other and ending with Chloe's hands on Beca's shoulders and Beca's on Chloe's waist. There was a beat where the room screamed ten and then they were talking all at once loudly and over each other.

 **"NINE."**

"I've been looking every where for you!"

"I couldn't find you!"

 **"EIGHT."**

"I couldn't find you!"

"I've been hiding from Jesse."

 **"SEVEN."**

"Doesn't matter, I have to ask you something."

"I was worried I wouldn't find you in time."

 **"SIX."**

"Wait, Jesse? You broke up?"

"What? What was it?"

 **"FIVE."**

"I needed to ask you if you wanted-"

"We did, he's just drunk and wanted me to do the Dirty Dancing lift. Is that Tom?"

 **"FOUR."**

"Yeah, it's Tom, I didn't even know he was here."

"Screw it, I don't care. Chloe I need to ask you-"

 **"THREE."**

"I don't care he's here I need to ask if you want to-"

"Kiss me."

 **"TWO."**

"Kiss me."

"For midnight."

 **"ONE."**

They spent that one second containing their wide grins that threatened to split onto both their faces and just staring into each others eyes; making that second seem like a whole other year they had to wait.

As the Bella house erupted with the screams of Happy New Year and the explosion of confetti cannons that Stacie had rigged to go off in every room at midnight exactly, Beca and Chloe dove into each other and kissed. It was kind of messy and clumsy considering they were both steaming drunk and had wide smiles plastered on both their faces, but that didn't mean that it wasn't the most perfect first kiss they could've imagined- mainly because it was theirs.

Chloe wrapped her arms around Beca's neck and used the leverage to gently pull her closer, her hands sliding into brown hair when she was close enough that she was all that Chloe could see and smell in the crowded party. Beca's hands slid around until they rest on the small of Chloe's back, her fingers clutching onto warm skin where they had slipped under the fabric of her shirt.

There was small pieces of glittery confetti all over them and they were both running out of air fast where they were still relentlessly kissing the other but it didn't matter to the two acapella captains, who seemed to forget the party around them and were perfectly distracted by the feel of soft lips on their own. As Chloe traced her tongue over Beca's bottom lip the younger girl reacted and pulled Chloe impossibly closer with the fingers clutching at her back so she could meet her tongue in the middle as they deepened the kiss. It tasted like a mix of Chloe's lipstick, the vodka they'd both been drinking and the salt and vinegar chips Beca had been eating and there was confetti in both their mouths but they didn't care; they were too wrapped up in the feel of the other to notice anything but that.

It was a good minute into the New Year when they finally pulled apart, even if it was only a few millimetres. Chloe's lips still grazed Beca's as they both tried to catch their breath, with what breath they managed to catch mixing between them in the minuscule gap.

Chloe laughed breathlessly in a mix of insane elation and disbelief before she opened her eyes to find Beca staring straight back at her with the same mix of emotions swimming in her deep blue eyes. Chloe only saw them for a moment and then Beca was pressing quick kisses to her smiling mouth again, seemingly not caring that she was only landing half of them on Chloe's lips and the rest scattered on her chin and cheeks where Chloe was still laughing.

Eventually, Chloe's emotions caught up and she met Beca's kisses in the middle. They almost forgot about the party until a loud screech sounded from the doorway to the kitchen where they were stood.

" _OH MY GOD, BHLOE RED ALERT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL._ " Fat Amy screamed from the other side of the room, making Beca and Chloe pull apart and turn their heads simultaneously, leaving their hands where they were. There stood the other seven Bellas and Aubrey, all cheering and clapping their friends finally being brave enough to get together.

"You all owe me $5." Stacie announced to the group of girls smugly, a perfectly manicured hand held out in preparation, making the rest of the girls grumble and fish out a crumpled five dollar bill each from pockets or bras and press it into the tall brunette's hand.

"That is so unfair, I bet Beca told you she was going to do this." Jessica stated as Stacie pocketed the cash.

"Yeah, so unfair, DJB tells you everything." Cynthia Rose argued, making Stacie just shrug in response.

"Nope, I had no idea. I can just sense sexual tension in the air, it's a gift." Stacie tapped the side of her nose, as if it was some huge secret but all of the girls knew that she could sense sexual tension because she was usually the one that was causing it.

"I'm still saying it was rigged." Aubrey protested as she very reluctantly held out a five dollar bill. Stacie snatched it and pressed a kiss to Aubrey's cheek, making her blush.

"Hey, Chloe is your best friend." Ashley piped up. "Surely you should have known this was going to happen?"

"Well yeah, but she told me she was going to do it at Christmas! I was so confident…" Aubrey grumbled, her disappointment in her best friend's failed promise costing her five dollars and her pride. Stacie tugged on Aubrey's hand, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Well, I'm the big winner of the night- wanna be my trophy?" Stacie winked seductively at Aubrey before pulling the blushing girl back into the throng of people in the living room. There was a moment of silence before Ashley let out a whoop of joy.

"Yes! Now you all owe me five dollars! Told you they were getting it on." Ashley pointed triumphantly at the remaining Bellas who were all groaning and searching for another $5 bill to hand over.

"Where's Bhloe? They took this bet as well and I'll be damned if I'm single, ten bucks down and not able to make the required amount of sexual innuendos to those two singing lesbians." Fat Amy announced, making the group of girls look back over to where their captains had been stood a minute before.

But little did they know that Beca and Chloe had scarpered at the very first instance they were able to and had escaped to Chloe's room upstairs to continue their new year without interrupting exes, Amy's horrendous puns or any other form of unwanted interruption; Both perfectly content to carry on their New Year how they started it.


End file.
